Will it be vengeful Casey or Kubaya Casey?

Georgia Capitol observers are watching to see to see who state Senate leaders choose to replace embattled Don Balfour as chairman of the Rules Committee.The post is highly coveted because the committee has veto power over what does – and doesn’t – come to a vote in the upper chamber.Balfour, a Snellville Republican, remains under the cloud of multiple ethics allegations. He’s already been fined by a state ethics panel and is reported to have attracted FBI scrutiny.He hasn’t announced his intention to step down, but it’s widely assumed that he will do so – or be removed by the Senate’s GOP leadership.Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, isn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. She has already circulated a letter touting her credentials for the post.But Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, also is said to be interested in the job, and some senators say he has the inside track.A decision is expected some time this week or – at the latest – early next week. The general Assembly convenes on Jan. 14.One lawmaker paying more attention than most to the Rules succession issue is Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler.Carter, a pharmacist with a long background in health-related issues, has expressed interest in chairing the Health and Human Services Committee.But that post is now held by Unterman, and likely won’t be available unless she takes over the Rules chair.But even if she does, Carter, who now chairs the Higher Education Committee, won’t necessarily have smooth sailing. Much depends on Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate’s presiding officer. Cagle recently won back most of the powers the chamber’s key Republicans stripped from him two years ago.Unterman and Mullis are both considered Cagle loyalists, so neither can use that as a leg up in a bid to chair rules.But Carter clashed with Cagle a couple years back and may have been spared reprisals only because the lieutenant governor’s wings got clipped.But now that their span has been more or less restored, Carter could be vulnerable to any grudges Cagle might hold.Carter says he and Cagle have patched things up.It could go either way, speculates Savannah political consultant Dave Simons, who has had extensive dealings with Carter and Cagle.“It depends on whether we see a vengeful Casey or a Kumbaya Casey,” Simons said. “That will determine whether venom flows at our senator.”If it does, Simons added, Carter’s status as chair of higher education – a post he’d like to keep if he can’t take over the health panel – might also be uncertain.For the moment – at least in public – Carter is doing his best Alfred E. Neuman, as in: “What, me worry?”“It’s all going to be decided above where I sit,” he said.